I love these days...

The girls and I have had two full jammy days this week and I am actually hoping for more! I love these days. Now that I am in the second trimester I am enjoying energy throughout the day! We have organized and played and played some more after that. I love these days. Today is a MiMi day, the girls left in their pj's and I am still in mine about to work on all sorts of things. I am grateful.

And for a few quick pics...Jada and I went to Houston to take sweet Blair to the airport. On our way back we had a little date and went to Build a Bear for the first time ever. Jada was in dreamworld getting to create who she lovingly calls "Lady-Belle"...as you can see why! Thanks Rhonda for the gift-card and the fun excuse to get away with Jada!And Grammy came for a visit and we exchanged pics...this is from last October but I just LOVED it! Kiva has changed so much and so fast...but I seriously get so much joy from these faces!

And to follow up...Last week was great. The ladies' night in New Braunfels was really sweet. Thanks for your prayers. There were lots of tender hearts and I think I was able to communicate almost everything I had planned. It was a nice night.

And heads up...we (hopefully) find out February 22nd if this is a baby boy or baby girl!!! We are really 50-50 on it. Any predictions?

the most precious sounds...

As I am typing, Brian is putting Jada down for bed. He plays the guitar for her every night. She loves music. She loves playing her guitar, singing and now writing her own songs. Mostly about rainbows, heaven and ladybugs. Tonight, like other nights, Brian will sing the simple song "God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He's so good to me." And then they will make up their own words from there. Moments ago I heard this song begin in it's normal state, then a pause, then "He takes care of the animals, He takes care of the animals..." Pause...Then, "God is really great, God is really great, ...." Then on to another song. I really hope sounds like this are burned into my memory forever. They are just so precious. Not to mention that I am just so grateful that the girls have a really really great daddy. And I hope these moments are burned into Jada and Kiva's memories forever too!

Loving my girls...I am speaking this weekend and dancing as a part of the Lee home!

I will start with my precious daughters...Jada and Kiva. They are fabulous. I love the ways the interact. Jada has a little mama heart for sure and Kiva is loud...she communicates much louder than Jada did. We like it (most the time :). She loves sitting in my lap in the midst of playing and getting a little snuggle time...then off to play again. She will come over to me and put her forehead on mine and make our noses touch and then lean back, look at me and walk away to play again. And for Jada...she is so much fun too. A conversation I had with Jada today:

• Jada- "Mommy, when I get bigger, can I be on a stage?"
• Me- "If Jesus wants you to be on stage, sure!"
• Pause
  
• Me- "What would you want to do on stage?"
• Jada- "Whatever Jesus wants me to do."
• Me- tears and smiles

Dancing is truly going strong in our lives around here. Talitha...loving it. Jada's dance and all of her dancing around our house...loving it. AND something really fun...I am getting to choreograph for the dancers that are going to New York from the studio where I used to teach. And not only that...but Brian, Jada and I are heading to New York with them in April! Jada's first flight and Brian's first time in NYC! We are excited for Jada to see such a different culture and the ministry "Project Dance" that we will get to serve with!

And lastly...this weekend I am getting to speak at a night called "Sweet Abandonment." Sweet Aunt Ashley (Ashley B.) will be leading worship before and after I speak. I would LOVE your prayers. For her leadership, for my words and sensitivity to the Spirit, the girls/women that come to be drawn near to Christ and willing to trust Him wherever they are. We will be in New Braunfels at 7:00. So...will you pray with us?

Love to you and I hope you enjoy this weather (if you are in Texas) and the scenery (if anywhere else!) :)

6 inches, Speed Walking, and a new season of Talitha!

I should start by saying that I have been lame at blogging so far in 2011. I have just been a sleepy prego...and I only have one more week until the first trimester is complete! I am actually already feeling the relief a bit.

I will start with tonight...we cut over 6 inches off of Jada's hair. She was so excited and giggling about it! Here is her new look before she went to bed!And our Kiva bear is a serious speed walker...and she leads with her cute little pop-belly! Here is an action shot :) and here she is pausing for a shot of her cute belly peeking out from her shirt!
some other fun...our friends, the Cole Family, stopped in for a couple of hours and I snapped a quick pick of their little one with ours. Too cute!The last pic is from New Years Eve...we had some really great friends over for food, the Wii, and games...we were able to bring in the new year with Uncle Will leading us in worship and prayer...we were seriously honored to be expectant and hopeful for 2011 with this group! This is a totally random shot of some of the men playing Wii...meanwhile the girls were talking in the kitchen :)
And a new season of Talitha has begun! We had our intensive choreography weekend last week and we began weekly rehearsals yesterday. I am amazed and thrilled about this group of "daughters." Seriously. They are such a gift to me. We are all expectant for the Lord to move in sweet ways in and through Talitha this year! I will not be performing with them this year since my prego belly will be showing by March 4th! But I will get to do one section with them, which I am super excited about. I will keep you updated as we grow together.

All for now. Have a great week!

why can't Christmas last longer??

SERIOUSLY...I was thinking last night how much I love Christmas and I wish we could leave the Christmas tree and decorations up until the end of January. I love that our "world" as we know it takes a break. Brian gets to be home and there are no regular responsibilities or meetings. Cooking is more fun and giving gifts really great too! I love that Brian has more than 2 weeks off of work...we are spoiled with him home (especially during this first trimester sleepiness :)!
So in attempt to catch up over this month, here is a long photo update for you! To start things off, we hired someone for a low price to paint our living room and Jada's room...which turned out to be somewhat of a disaster with paint on the ceiling, furniture and carpet. SOO...our truly amazing friends came to the rescue! A group of 11 people came over from 5-midnight (and some stayed even longer). It was truly an act of love on their part and the Lord reminded me in those moments of how blessed we are in the community that we live in! Five years ago when we bought our home we painted every room with the help of the house church that we were a part of. Now the Lord has given us Then and now our home is not our own...it is truly a gift to us through people that we love. So grateful!

Jada surprised Uncle Jason with a visit to their house in Spring! On the drive she said "my dream finally came true...I get to go to Uncle Jason and Aunt Shannon's house!" So sweet. It was super fun. Aunt Shannon bought a ginger bread house for Jason and Jada to make together...it was fun...and we all realized it was our first official gingerbread house to decorate!Afterwards they took us to lunch and then to main event to play some games.

And then we went to a wedding in the Woodlands with some friends. Our neighbors and great friends Jared and Risa were there which was the highlight for Jada!
Kiva is changing so much. She is so great! Brian and I say that every day... we really say "Kiva is so great." In every way she is so much fun, easy going, stubborn, joyful, and she is a really fast walker! She had a pretty rough cold this week. She was an absolute joy in the midst of being sick! She is so so stubborn with her pink meds though! It is a team effort to get the stuff down her throat :) Oh Kiv!And then Jada sang in her first Christmas pageant/show! She did great...this is her waving at PaPa. She exited the stage a little early in her excitement to jump in PaPa's lap!The Breed Family (their family of 5) stayed with us for 5 days. They were in from North Carolina. It was crazy but great. They are so important to us and we are super grateful to have seen them twice this year!

Christmas eve we spent the day celebrating my brother Jason's birthday! It was a super fun party planned by Aunt Shannon here in Bryan College Station. It was super fun and very yummy! Then we spent the night at MiMi and PaPa's and celebrated Christmas the next day. And we just returned from New Braunfels visiting Brian's family. We had a relaxing time and we took some pics...just not with my camera :(...if/when I get some of those I will show ya! For now we are home and enjoying the rest of the holidays!

Glad Days...

There has been a ton going on in our lives...like all of you! So I thought I would do a quick picture update...some with our not so good camera...but whatever :)

The cutie sisters by the tree!

Kiva cracks us up throughout the day...seriously, the girl is funny!

Jada had her first trip to the dentist...it is the same dentist that I used to work for (way back!) She did great! Her teeth look good too :) whew!

Jada's school group (aka: some of our friends) went to Lights of Texas at Camp Tejas...it was incredible!!! Hay rides, a light show, bouncy things to play on, kettle corn, hot chocolate...etc.

Jada and her friends played on the bouncy things with no reserve...it was so fun! I had to include her friend Ainsley in this b/c seriously, look at the joy on these girls' faces!

I got to take some pics of my favorite twins...Blaine and Suzanna! They are getting way to old! I had a blast with them...even though they are getting closer and closer to my height. I used to baby-sit them when the were 2 1/2 and got to be with them a lot for the years to follow. I am so thankful they are still a part of our lives!

Jada is a super detailed girl and she got a new puzzle of the US states and did it all by herself...way to go Jada!

More later...have a great weekend!

Some news for ya!

Recently I have had this strange aversion to fruit. I love fruit...but I just can't even take a bite of a small piece of fruit without getting this yucky feeling! And last Friday night I went to sleep at 7:30 pm and woke up at 7:00am and still felt a little tired. And then there have been about 7 or 8 different people that have had dreams, scriptures or the Lord simply bombarded their thoughts with this really cool fact...and all of it comes down to this.....


WE ARE EXPECTING BABY LEE #3!!!!!...and we couldn't be more thankful!

So, here is the story. About a month ago a friend of ours who has a history of having "words of knowledge" or is prophetically gifted or to put it in a simple way...she just knows things sometimes and it has historically been right. ANYWAY...this friend or ours said that when she saw me that night she felt like the Lord spoke "Pregnant." She asked me minutes later and of course, I didn't know yet, so I just responded with "That would be awesome! We'll see!" That same evening a close friend of mine emailed me from out of the blue and said she was just thinking that I might have some baby news for her. Earlier that month another close friend of mine had a dream that I was huge and pregnant and in the hospital about to deliver another baby. Later on in the month my mom had two dreams that she felt like were about me being pregnant. At Thanksgiving my sister-in-law said she felt the same thing that she felt before we knew we were pregnant with Jada and Kiva. Last weekend a close friend of ours in our small group was reading the bible and felt like Isaiah 43:5-7 was for us and our children. Even a sweet lady that loves the Lord who is the chef at HEB (who happened to know we were pregnant with Kiva before I did) told me last time I saw her that we better get ready to have some babies back to back. Other close friends of ours throughout the month of November said that they truly felt like we were going to have another baby soon. About 3 weeks ago, Jada said that Mommy is going to have a baby boy in her tummy soon. (we'll see about the boy?!) but she was right on about the baby!

So, when Brian and I found out that we were indeed pregnant...it was as though we were already informed of that. The Lord had spoken to us through His people and through His word and it was beautiful! We have never experienced anything quite like this before. So many different people, so many different ways the Lord was communicating. Isn't it wonderful to know that JESUS IS ALIVE and loves to show His supernatural power in personal ways?! I am so grateful.

And as for this precious little person growing now...what promises await him/her! This baby is already marked with the power and presence of God in unique ways on earth. And as the Lord knits together all of this baby's precious parts, I can't help but to be expectant in fresh ways and free to believe God for His plans. There have been little moments of fear creeping up and the Lord has been so kind to help me draw near and lean on Him in those times (I write this with tears of gratitude)...and check out what Is.43:5-7 says:

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Wasn't it so kind of the Lord to give our friend this verse before we even knew we were pregnant??? I am thoroughly convinced more than ever that we are a part of the beautiful body of Christ that has members that comfort, unite, prophesy, dream, pray, support, serve and hope in ways that make all of our days better! THANK YOU! Maybe this will be a boy or maybe it will add to the sisters in our house! Either way...yay!!! And Jada and Kiva will be sharing a room this time next year. That thrills Brian and me. And so it looks like August 9th is the due date so far...of course we will keep you posted! But for now, we would love your prayers for this little one.

confessions of jada and kiva's mom...

Number One- on our way home from church tonight we went through the wendy's drive through to give the girls some chicken nuggets for dinner...while I was there I ordered a chocolate cookie dough twisted frosty. And then I ate half of it. I could smell the sugar...and it was spectacular.

Number Two- I like to shop at TJ Maxx and Ross. I feel like when I conquer one of those stores and find something for a great deal that I should win some sort of prize along with my purchase...I always feel like, Yes...I won.

Number Three- I have stubbornly resisted being like my mom in some ways...and one of them is curling my hair or curling Jada's hair. My mom always had my hair curled and looking very symmetrically perfect. Something in me rebelled along the way and I just let my hair do it's thing. Well, last week we put Jada's hair in sponge rollers after her bath. She was so excited. I wasn't sure she was going to actually go through the night wearing them...but she did! And when she woke up she was so excited for the reveal. I have to say that her hair looked fabulous. Ok...so this time my mom may have been right :) It started off super curly and fell throughout the day, which was perfect because we had our family pics taken that afternoon and check out her rockin hair and my friend Shauna's stellar pic. I will share more of these pics another time. For now...just focus on the hair.

first thing in the morning before school

And with all of this talk about Jada's hair...I thought I would include a cutie pic of Kiva sporting her new look with a headband and bow...that blonde hair is coming in slowly but surely!! And of course Kiva working the camera striking her pose for Shauna :)

Good Gifts...

I have been struck with what GOOD GIFTS Brian, Jada and Kiva are to me. No really. There are have been so many moments where I literally think "I hope I never forget this." Tonight was one of them...
Before rest time today, I told Jada that if she sleeps we could lay on our driveway and look at the stars late tonight. She slept... I was excited for the night and so was she.

So, we had some of our amazing friends over for dinner and when they left Jada immediately wanted to get our blankets, suckers (dum-dums) and head out the door. Brian, Jada and I proceeded to lay on the driveway and look at the stars. The scene was more precious to my heart than I can express. The three of us were laying on a small blanket finding shapes in the clouds, looking at how bright the moon was, searching for stars behind the clouds, telling animal stories and all the while enjoying our dum-dums. There was sweet silence joined with a sweet 4 year old voice filled with excitement and wonder...and it was wonderful. It was simple and magnificent. I didn't want the night to end.

And unless Jesus comes back soon, I am struck with the reality of generations that will come after me that will gaze at the very same stars...Jada's grandchildren...So Lord, help me never to be too busy to be still and gaze into the night sky with the precious ones that I love and may the following generations know you more deeply and honor you more gladly as they lay under the night sky.

5 steps and biggest loser

A very brief update...KIVA TOOK 5 STEPS TODAY!!! She is so proud. Jada is so proud. It is so fun.

And I heart Biggest Loser! Seriously. I have cut out sugar almost completely from my diet for a while b/c of them. I didn't know I would feel so good. So much more to share...but I am sleepy.